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Chapter 15 — Daingean

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Neglect

407

A designated priest or Brother, who maintained an office in the School, assisted the Resident Manager in his duties. He would keep records, accounts and numerous records required for the individual files on the boys. There was also a Brother Prefect who was responsible for dealing with serious breaches of discipline. As Fr Luca stated: It was always a man who ... was healthy, strong and who could bear the brunt of that responsibility and the work that it entailed, because it meant that he would have to be on the line at anytime if there was trouble of any description.

408

The Brother Prefect also had numerous other time-consuming duties. He would organise supervision of the boys outside school and work hours, and he was responsible for the boys’ correspondence and any monies sent to them. In practice, the Resident Manager left matters of discipline entirely to the Brother Prefect. As Fr Luca stated: I would have to say I don’t know how many slaps they had. I never saw the boys being punished while I was there. I didn’t regard it as part of my duty to supervise that. I know that the boys were punished and I know it was left to the prefect to decide what the punishment would be for the particular, well I don’t like to call it crime, misdemeanour.

409

In their Submission, the Oblates stated that there were criticisms of the standard of the buildings and accommodation in Daingean, and they stressed that the buildings were owned by and were the responsibility of the State, which, despite the protestations of the Congregation, allowed the facilities to deteriorate and fall into an unsuitable condition. While the lease under which the Oblates held Daingean placed responsibility for day-to-day care and maintenance of the premises on the Congregation, allowing the boys to live in filthy conditions as described by the Kennedy Committee was not the responsibility of the State.

410

A report compiled by Ciaran Fahy on Daingean is appended.

411

From the description of the premises, it is clear that material comforts were not provided for the inmates of Daingean. They lived in cold, damp, gloomy conditions, had to wash in cold water, and were crowded together in unhealthy dormitories, with a laundry that could not even provide them with an adequate supply of clean shirts and bed linen.

412

Dr McCabe’s reports revealed many concerns about the buildings at Daingean. Her first visit to the School, after the move from Glencree, was in January 1941. She wrote: At present premises will need a lot of repairing and painting. Dormitory acc. rather congested now but this will have to do until new wing built. Wash-house is being organised - Recreation hall not very suitable – old building. Equipment – fair – to be improved. Bedding to be improved – proper sheeting and blankets. Floor in refectory very defective. The water supply. There is a tank indoor which is unsuitable for drinking – warned the manager against using this supply unless it has been boiled previously.

413

She stated, ‘conditions under which boys live great improvement to Glencree’. Even in this early report, it is clear that the promise of a new wing, which made the existing conditions something to be tolerated on a temporary basis, was a major reason for accepting the state of the School as she found it.

414

She visited again in October 1941, and reported a ‘gradual improvement’. But again the promise of new buildings persuaded her to accept existing conditions. ‘Work-shops and Recreation Hall are small’, she wrote, ‘and not suitable, but pending the new building must do’.

415

By her next visit in April 1942, she found some improvement but listed very many faults: Still much can be done - Floor of refectory needs repair. Recommended for immediate action. Dormitories overcrowded – but only as a temporary measure till new Building established. Drew manager’s attention to sheets and bedclothes which could be cleaner. Lavatory Annexe ... general cleanliness is not good – drew manager’s attention to this. Clothing to be improved ... suggested lumber jackets. Farm boys very untidy looking, especially about legs – suggested small gaiters ... to be worn to keep ends of trousers dry. Suggested rubber aprons to be worn by boys in the laundry because of wet conditions their clothes were in. Manager hopes that new building will soon be started.

416

Over a year later, in July 1943, she visited again. There was no sign of the promised new building but she remained optimistic. She wrote: At present, as a purely temporary arrangement, the dormitories are over-crowded - Recreation Hall is a condemned building – this must be till the new Building is erected. Sheets on beds unsatisfactory – not clean – clothing for everyday wear could be improved. The Manager has been only too eager to carry out any recommendations previously made by me - i.e. new floor in refectory – lumber. I suggest that some impetus should be given to the starting of the New Building – The dormitories are very overcrowded and the no. of boys is yearly increasing. Classrooms are small and the recreation and wash-house are just makeshift.

417

Three years later, in May 1946, there was more concern than optimism about the promised building. ‘The Manager’, wrote Dr McCabe, ‘is very keen to get on with the New Building and he has asked me if possible to get at B/W35 and ask them to expedite matters ... I am most anxious for the new buildings to be started as soon as possible’.

418

It was in November that year that the new building began to be built. She wrote, ‘It will be most welcome when completed’. By 1948, the new sanitary annexe had been added, but still she was writing, ‘... at present dormitory accommodation is not sufficient. All this will be improved with New Building’.

419

The new building had become the promised land that made tolerable the overcrowded, dirty and squalid conditions that were the reality of life in Daingean, where neither boys nor Brothers had the simple material comforts needed in a residential school. Other documents revealed an even worse picture. The Dormitories Source: Martin Reynolds

420

On 7th July 1948, the Resident Manager wrote in desperation to the Inspector of Industrial Schools, when he learned that the second half of the ‘New Dormitory and Ablution Room’ was to be deferred. He pleaded: This decision is so upsetting to our work for the boys here, that I would venture to ask that our case be re-considered. (1) When we moved from Glencree to Daingean in 1940, our present Dormitories were only approved by the Department Medical Inspector as a purely temporary arrangement. The buildings where our boys sleep were never meant for dormitories. They are overcrowded, and badly ventilated.

421

The West Wing, he pointed out, was nearing completion, but the drainage scheme was for both wings and could not be constructed for only one. This led to his second point: (2) I would point out, also, that the temporary ablution room (where all the boys wash at present) is very unsafe. The walls are leaning outwards at more than six inches from the perpendicular. The Board of Works Architect ... will confirm that this ablution room is definitely unsafe and should be demolished as soon as possible.


Footnotes
  1. This is the English version of Tomás O Deirg.
  2. This is a pseudonym.
  3. This is a pseudonym.
  4. This is a pseudonym.
  5. This is a pseudonym.
  6. This is the Irish version of Sugrue.
  7. This is a pseudonym.
  8. This is a pseudonym.
  9. This is a pseudonym.
  10. This is a pseudonym.
  11. This is a pseudonym.
  12. This is a pseudonym.
  13. This is a pseudonym.
  14. This is a pseudonym.
  15. This is a pseudonym.
  16. This is the Irish version of Richard Crowe.
  17. This is the English version of Mr MacConchradha.
  18. Allegations of brutal beatings in Court Lees Approved School were made in a letter to The Guardian, and this led to an investigation which reported in 1967 (see Administration of Punishment at Court Lees Approved School (Cmnd 3367, HMSO)) – Known as ‘The Gibbens Report’, it found many of the allegations proven, and in particular that canings of excessive severity did take place on certain occasions, breaking the regulation that caning on the buttocks should be through normal clothing. Some boys had been caned wearing pyjamas. Following this finding, the School was summarily closed down.
  19. This is a pseudonym.
  20. This is the English version of Ó Síochfhradha.
  21. This is a pseudonym.
  22. This is a pseudonym.
  23. This is a pseudonym.
  24. This is a pseudonym.
  25. This is a pseudonym.
  26. This was Br Abran.
  27. Organisation that offers therapy to priests and other religious who have developed sexual or drink problems run by The Servants of the Paraclete.
  28. This is a pseudonym.
  29. This is a pseudonym.
  30. This is a pseudonym.
  31. This is a pseudonym.
  32. This is a pseudonym.
  33. This is a pseudonym.
  34. This is a pseudonym.
  35. Board of Works.
  36. Bread and butter.
  37. Board of Works.
  38. Patrick Clancy, ‘Education Policy’, in Suzanne Quinn, Patricia Kennedy, Anne Matthews, Gabriel Kiely (eds), Contemporary Irish Social Policy (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2005), p 79.
  39. This is a pseudonym.